I hate to find myself part-agreeing with something Harold77 churns out, but he's on the right lines, with the exception of price. I think someone else touched on this but people were too spoiled during the 2000s so that now anything above an ultra low cost fare is chalked up as "expensive", people need to recalibrate what they consider an expensive [base] air fare.
As a footnote, and to clarify, I have invested a great many hours in the recent past into the areas demographics as well as delving into our own history to establish what should work and what should not from MME, which is more than most internet commentators have done, and whilst it is speculative, what is an airline or airports own assessment if not speculative? Perhaps with the rare exception, routes should only be launched if even a pessimistic assessment of demand shows a sufficient amount.